Work Resumes In $7-million Project To Reduce Odors At Kline's Island

Construction started recently on the second major phase of a $7-million program to reduce odors at the Kline's Island sewage treatment plant in Allentown.

The latest project entails the placement of control equipment on the remaining two filtration towers and the construction of a lime silo to stabilize sludge.

Plant Superintendent Daniel E. Koplish said the work is scheduled for completion by the end of October.

The initial installation on two filter towers in 1983 cut plant odors by more than 80 percent, he said.

He estimated the odors will be 40 percent less than they are now when the additional controls are in place.

As officials have said over the years about the effectiveness of the controls, the plant cannot be odor-free.

"Because of the nature of sewer treatment - short of building an Astrodome over the whole complex - the odors will never be totally eliminated," Koplish said.

Johnston Construction Co. of Dover, York County, is installing thecontrols on the towers at a contract price of $824,623. Michael F. Ronca & Sons, Bethlehem, has the $334,000 contract for the lime facility.

The federal government is paying 75 percent of the $1,158,623 cost and the city is paying 25 percent, or $289,656.

City officials had hoped to have the second phase completed last year. Koplish said the paperwork required to receive the federal grant and the bidding procedures held it up.

The controls on the towers will be basically the same as those installed in 1983 by Quad Environmental Technologies of Highland Park, Ill.

They involve the installation of reverse fans at the base of the towers to steer the gases through scrubbers and treating them with sodium hypochloride. Chemical feed pumps, holding tanks, air compressors and manifold ducting also will be part of the system.

After the four towers are equipped with controls, three will be in use at a time. The rotation will permit periods to clean the filtration system and prevent the need to overuse any one tower.

The lime silo will have compressors at its base to deliver lime on dewatered sludge and reduce its smell. The dry sludge will be taken to farms, reclamation sites or a landfill.

Depending on an evaluation of the effectiveness of the new controls, a third and final stage of the odor control program probably would be undertaken, Koplish said.

That would involve covering the primary settling tanks and diverting and cleaning the gases through a scrubber.

Koplish said the settling tanks are the major source of odors at the plant.